It was painted yellow maybe 15 years ago - it is badly faded and doesn't stand out at all. It wasn't near an intersection or road, sort of close to a path bridge - to keep ATVs and stuff off the bridge.
I'm going to get the county to repaint it, and if they make a protective offer to cover medical and bike costs I wouldn't turn it down (not likely, I know), but the fact is I chose to ride early in the morning and I ran into something that was in plain site - poor coloring and placement or not. It's tempting to try suing to clear my losses, but I don't think I could live with myself - I'd rather take responsibilty for my mistake.
The tricky part was there were three I beams and the horizontal steel pipe only went between two. I think visually my brain processed the gap between one and filled it in on the one in front of the sun. Cruel trick!
But overall I'm trying feel good about it. Considering the physics behind it I find it hard to explain how I didn't break a bone, especially looking at some of my bruises. The bike parts I can replace - you only get one set of knees. And I usually don't carry my cell phone, just something I thought would be a good idea that morning.
On a side note, the Delta Universal rack is a nice rack after some home fabricating and playing with spacing and washers. It's not truly universal, but on my cyclocross bike I was able to get it firmly on. Seems well made to me. And since the bike hung on the fence as I took to flight, it didn't even suffer a scuff.
I'm going to stick with the frame, it only has a couple of 'divots', so we'll just ride on and monitor closely, as soon as these stiches are out and I can order new drops. Pass the white touch up paint please...